


Stardust

by ghostofwinterfell



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, M/M, Smut, Stardust AU, also dan glitters, if that doesn't sell you then I don't know what will, the holy trinity, they're both idiots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-09
Updated: 2015-11-09
Packaged: 2018-04-30 20:41:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5178869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostofwinterfell/pseuds/ghostofwinterfell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>WRITTEN FOR THE PHANDOM BIG BANG 2015</p><p>------------</p><p>When Phil Lester sees a star fall from high up on a hilltop, he vows to do the impossible. Cross the wall and bring back the fallen star in exchange for Victoria Forester’s hand in marriage. When Phil finds the star, he is surprised to find it very much alive.</p><p>Dan is a tiny bit pissed at having fallen from the sky. He’s even more pissed at the blue-eyed idiot who finds him lying on the scorched ground. Injured and with nowhere else to go, Dan agrees to accompany Phil to the wall.</p><p>However, events are closing in around them. Rumours of immortality and power beyond imagining sweep the land, stirring terrible forces that are best left alone. Forces that will stop at nothing to get what they want.</p><p>The shining heart of a fallen star.</p><p>(Also known as the one where Dan is a star, there’s a bunch of witches who just want to devour his heart, Phil is a lovestruck fool and the moral of this tale is to always avoid Faerie Wine.)</p><p>------------</p><p>CROSS-POSTED HERE BY THE AUTHOR. WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON THE 21ST OF OCTOBER 2015 ON echohowell.tumblr.com FOR THE PHANDOM BIG BANG 2015</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stardust

There was once a young man who wished to gain his Heart’s Desire.

The man in question was named Philip Michael Lester. He was handsome to say the least at an appreciable height of 6’1, with darkened hair that often shrouded his cloud blue eyes. He was infatuated with a young woman by the name of Victoria Forester. Alas he was not the first nor the last to be pulled in by the traps of her fitted gowns and storm-grey eyes. But out of the long parade of suitors in young Victoria Forester’s life, his is perhaps, the most interesting story to tell.

It is the tale of a man and a star, a tale of starlight, witches and brown eyes staring into blue. It is a tale of love, dreams and half-forbidden heartaches.

It is a tale of love and hate, light and dark, night and day.

It is a tale of stardust.

This faerie-tale begins, as most of them do, in the village of Wall.

Wall is a tiny windswept settlement sheltered in the cleft of a valley between two moorlands. It is often considered quite a dreary place. The only people foolish enough to live there being the descendants of the original settlers whose entire families have lived their entire life, from their birth to their death, in the village.

The village of Wall, as it happens, takes its name from an actual wall located a mere mile from the village itself. Long and crumbling, the stones are weathered down by the centuries of mist and rain of the moors. The wall stretches across the entire valley, almost six miles in length. The only way to the other side of the wall is the small gap, no more than three feet wide, in the crumbling stone structure. Children are warned at an early age about the consequences of crossing the wall. The nightmares that lurk in the lands beyond are chilling enough that only madmen and starstruck fools ever consider crossing.

And while Phil Lester is not mad, he is most certainly starstruck, perhaps in more ways than one.

And so this brings us to the start of our story. A midnight picnic for two on the side of a windswept moor. Phil is rambling on breathlessly about Wuthering Heights, Victoria is sitting with her knees drawn up to her chin. She is staring at the night sky very slightly bored and wishing that she could return to her copy of Twilight awaiting her by the warm fire.

“-I think it’s stupid how Cathy chooses Linton! Her Heart’s Desire throughout the story was obviously to love Heathcliff and be loved by him in full! I mean-”

Victoria, quite gladly, never did find out what Phil meant as she happened to spy a flash of light in the dark canopy arching over them “Oh look!” she cried out, tossing her long blonde hair behind her in a vain manner. “A shooting star!”

Phil broke away from his rapturous gaze of Victoria to glimpse the faint flash of the falling star. He watched as it zipped through the sky, heading in the direction of the wall before finally vanishing behind the distant horizon of the lands beyond the wall.

“What did you wish for?” Victoria asked, barely stifling a yawn with the back of her gloved hand.

Phil turned his ocean blue gaze back to her “My Heart’s Desire.” he said simply.

Victoria forced a petite smile onto her angelic face to mask her boredom “And what is your Heart’s Desire?”

“My true love.” Phil answered instantly, returning his gaze to the sky. “For me to love them and for them to love me.”

Victoria smiled almost patronisingly at the simple wish, “They’d be a fool not to love you.” she said, this time with a hint of sincerity, for even though she didn’t love Phil she was fond of him, and agreed that he deserved to be happy.

The next words were long in coming. They were three very simple words, yet they are the reason this story exists to this day.

“Marry me Victoria.”

“I’m sorry?” Victoria asked, turning to face Phil.

“Victoria Anne Forester, will you marry me?” Phil repeated, his face only portraying the rapturous seriousness of a person so very deeply in love with the wrong person.

Victoria tipped back her head and laughed, a long pitiful, bitter sound. “Marry you?” she asked patronisingly. “And what would you have to offer me? I own the hearts of every young man in this village, and some of the older ones as well. Joe Sugg has promised to bring me a ring made of a million sparkling diamonds. Charlie McDonnell has declared that he shall travel to Australia and bring me back a coral necklace carved from the Great Barrier Reef. Even Zoe’s fiancé! The oh-so-loyal Alfie Deyes has pledged to travel to travel throughout space and time, an impossible feat in itself, so he can bring me back a bucketful of stardust from the fabled Medusa Cascade! What do you possibly have to offer me that will triumph over any of these?” Victoria finished, confident in her victory.

Now this was the point where any sane person would’ve slapped Victoria and walked away, leaving behind a quite permanent red handprint upon her shocked cheek. But as we have mentioned before, Phil Lester is not at all sane. He is after all, a dreamer.

Managing to only look crestfallen for a single moment, Phil took Victoria’s hand and pledged to her, in the serious tone of a half-lost wanderer, “Victoria. For your hand in marriage, I will travel across the Wall and bring you back the fallen star.”

Victoria, having heard all sorts of ridiculous pledges before, merely waved her hand in a half-interested dismissal. “Done.” she said. “If you return within three weeks, with the star, then I will marry you.”

And that was the end of their conversation.

However, miles away, on the other side of the wall, at the bottom of a sheer-sided crater, three tiny words broke the silence of the still night air. “Ow.” was the first, then very quietly “Fuck” then a slightly louder “Ow” echoed through the air again.

*

Dan hadn’t planned on falling.

He’d heard stories of course, about the stars who fell. Some say they were lucky. After all stars were not very easily knocked from their perch. Whispers of destiny often swirled around fallen stars.

Others would call them starstruck (pun intended), there were tales; tales of stars who fell in love with human, of stars who gave up their immortal life force just to grow old with one person.

Dan would call them idiots. Unbalanced idiots who very obviously couldn’t keep their balance while slowly dancing their way along the shimmering paths of the Milky Way.

Which is why, when Dan found himself tumbling from his place among the stars at warp speed, he couldn’t help but feel the tiniest bit pissed.

He couldn’t fathom who he had managed to annoyed so spectacularly to deserve this fate. He was quite certain that he didn’t trip off the edge, which meant that someone had pushed him.

But he didn’t have any time to think about betrayal, malice or any other sort of negative thoughts. His mind was, funnily enough, curiously preoccupied right then.

It’s wondrous what crashing into the earth at terminal velocity can do to the mind.

“Ow.” Dan muttered, when the grit around him had passed enough for him to take in a deep, shuddering breath. The dust cleared just enough for him to spy the twinkling lights of his siblings jeering at him from the dull black sky. “Fuck” Dan whispered, as the enormity of the situation began to sink in. “Ow.” he groaned again, before promptly passing out.

*

Regaining consciousness wasn’t exactly the greatest moment of Dan’s life.

It wasn’t the fact that he was lying in the bottom of a very large crater, obviously of his own making. It wasn’t even the fact that his leg seemed twisted at an awkward angle, giving off alarming pangs whenever he attempted to move it.

No. What really made Dan’s day was the slightly shocked face of the young man with what was quite obviously dyed-black-fringe staring down at him.

“Great.” Dan grumbled under his breath. “Absolutely brilliant.”

The man cleared his throat slightly and averted his blue eyes away from Dan’s face to scan his gaze over Dan’s hurt leg.

“Um…” the man said, awkwardly, breaking the almost painful silence. “Do you nee-”

“Fuck off.” Dan hissed, before the man could get the word out. “I don’t need your help.”

The man looked almost taken aback. He was clearly not used to people being so harsh about being offered aid. “You’re leg looks like it might be brok-” he started.

Dan growled angrily at the man, cutting him off. In an attempt accent his point, Dan struggled to hoist himself up onto his elbows, only to fail miserably when his leg cried out in violent protest. Eyes watering with pain, Dan flopped back onto the rough stone ground, still slightly warm from the intensity of his impact.

The man took a step closer, kneeling down beside Dan’s leg amidst the hail storm of hisses and insults. He was careful not to touch it, merely craning his neck to try and inspect it from every angle.

“Yep that’s definitely broken.” he declared after a few minutes, when Dan had fallen silent in an attempt to play unconscious and hope that the man would leave him alone. “I can try creating a splint for it if you want?” the man asked hesitantly.

Dan opened his mouth to protest, before the words died in his throat. It would be for the best, he decided. The man seemed harmless enough, he didn’t even seem to have figured out what Dan was yet. Besides, he wanted to be able to move for when the High Witches figured out where he had fallen. He wasn’t going to be taken like a sitting duck like so many of his siblings before him.

So against his will, Dan let out a particularly large groan, “Fine. Do it.” he said through his gritted teeth.

The briefest hint of a smile flashed onto the man’s face and Dan felt something twist deep within him, it wasn’t unpleasant. On the contrary, it felt almost like a flash of clarity that had disappeared as quickly as it had come.

“I’m Phil. Phil Lester.” the man said, before standing up and scanning the wall of the crater. He seemed to be looking for the easiest was up to the trees towering a good forty feet above their current position.

“Dan, short for Daniel.” Dan breathed out, just because he was too tired and pissed to start lying. 

So Dan allowed himself to drift in and out of easy unconsciousness as Phil started the ascent up to the trees surrounding the crater. He was shaken awake after an indeterminable amount of time by Phil, who was holding a knife that looked suspiciously like it was made for a picnic dinner accompanied by two long, thin pieces of wood.

“Can you just lie absolutely still? I need to get this lined up.” Phil said, laying the two pieces either side of Dan’s twisted leg.

Dan bit his lip in attempt not to cry out as Phil set his leg back in its correct position and started binding the two pieces of wood to it with a long strip of twine. After about twenty seconds of painful torture, Phil leant back, looking fairly satisfied.

“Done.” he announced, clapping his hands together before offering Dan his arm.

Struggling, Dan grasped onto it and very slowly, let himself be hauled up by Phil. He gasped a little as he tested his leg although he found that he could walk on it, but only if he leant on Phil.

“Better?” Phil asked, that goddamned smile flitting around his lips again.

Dan bit his already sore lip as he felt the ache in his leg, “I don’t think I’ll be able to walk on my own.” he admitted apologetically.

“Where do you live?” Phil asked, “I can help you to there or to another safe point.” he offered. “I’m on a bit of adventure of my own that I need to complete before two and a half weeks are up but I can spare one or two days.” he added.

“I can’t get home.” Dan whispered softly, unable to resist stealing a quick glance up at the sky.

Phil merely shot Dan a strange look, before dismissing Dan’s bizarre comment as he continued on his little romantic retelling of his adventure as the pair hobbled slowly to the edge of the crater and began the slow, painful ascent to the treeline.

Dan managed to just about tune out the humming frequency of Phil’s voice, instead choosing to concentrate on reaching for his starlight.

Nothing.

Dan bit his lip as he attempted to struggle his way past whatever blackness had seemed to fill him upon impact.

He found a glimmer. Nothing yet, compared to the vast amount of light that he used to emit when he had lived up above the place he was now. (He wasn’t going to think about that, he wasn’t.)

“How did you break your leg anyway?” Phil’s curious voice broke through Dan’s concentration, allowing the glimmer to escape from Dan’s reach.

“I fell.” Dan ground out through gritted teeth. How stupid was this human? Dan couldn’t fathom how any of his siblings had been able to fall in love with these pitiful, weak-minded creatures.

“Did the star hit you?” Phil asked, his voice filled with curiosity and another quality that Dan couldn’t quite identify, although it sounded strangely like determination.

Dan let out a sharp, bitter laugh. “The star didn’t injure anyone, you can trust me on that. In fact, the star is the one that got injured. Falling from the sky can tend to do that to a being, even a magical, immortal being.”

Phil frowned, “A star isn’t a being.” he said to Dan. Not in a patronising tone, just in a simple tone that stated a fact that, in his opinion, was a fundamental flaw in the making of the universe.

Dan raised his eyebrows and let a ghost of a smile play around his lips. “Explain me then.” the sarcastic retort flew past his lips before any amount of common-sense, any amount of survival instinct could hold it back.

“What?” the pair grounded to a halt as Phil processed Dan’s reply. “What are you sayi-”

“I’m the star you idiot.” The words rushed out of Dan’s unthinking mouth. As soon as the sentence escaped, he clapped a hand over his mouth. Stupid, stupid.

Phil froze, his icy eyes raking over Dan’s shivering form. The pause was terrifying, almost painful.

“That’s impossible.” Phil broke the silence in a rush of air, as if he’d been holding his breath throughout Dan’s slip-up and the horrible silence that had followed.

Dan let out a hollow laugh, “Better start getting used to it.”

“But how-”

“You crossed the wall.” the answer came to Dan is a startling moment of clarity. “Of course, you’re one of those lovestruck, idiotic fools who cross the wall in hope of adventure.”

A shadow passed over Phil’s face at Dan’s words, “So what if I am?”

“You idiot.” Dan hissed back, taking a step forward despite the stabbing pain that shot through his leg. “Do you know how dangerous this place is?”

Phil took an instinctive step back as he backed down from Dan’s aggression, “What do you mean?” Phil replied, his face scrunched up in utter confusion as the fundamentals upon which his life was built on were turned upside down.

Dan shook his head, retreating and wincing on every second step as his bad leg jabbed into the ground. “You have no idea what you’ve got yourself into. You helped me, you healed me.”

“And you’re mad at me for that?” Phil retorted.

“I’m mad at you for binding me to you.” Dan growled back, the stingy, age-old customs of the land tugging and pulling at him.

“Binding-” Phil started.

“You helped me.” Dan snapped, turning away as he felt tears of frustration pricking at the corners of his eyes. He hated having to rely on someone. He hated seeming weak. “I’m honour-bound to help you in return.”

“Can’t I-”

“Free me from my obligation?” Dan whipped around and Phil’s naive words. “No. Not until I’ve helped you achieve your freaking heart’s desire. Now how the fuck am I supposed to achieve that.” Dan finished, throwing up his arms in despair.

The concern on Phil’s face fell away at once. “Well that’s simple!” he chirped. “You just come with me to the wall!”

“And how the fuck would that solve anything.” Dan hissed, pain lancing itself throughout his veins.

Phil cocked his head to one side as he let his deep blue, humour-filled eyes study Dan closer, as though he was a puzzle he was attempting to solve. “You weren’t listening to me were you?”

Dan lowered his eyes away from Phil’s piercing blue ones as, as if he suddenly found the scorched side of the crater wall very interesting.

Phil let out an unexpected laugh, a surprising sound that only succeeded in making Dan feel slightly on edge and weirdly off-balance.

“Come on.” Phil said, gesturing towards his shoulder. “I’ll tell you it as we walk.”

Dan grumbled, muttering “idiot” very softly under his breath before allowing Phil to bear some of his weight as the pair began to hobble along.

And so the star and the fool set off on their grand tale, neither of them quite prepared for what was in store. For unbeknownst to them, their presence had already sent ripples through the fabric of the world.

*

High-up on the Great Eastern Crags, in the rotting keep of the abandoned Stronghold, three witches lay in deep slumber.

For ages beyond measure, these witches had slept, the curse of the immortal ruler from the sky who had ruled the Stronghold for years upon years still lay heavy on the three.

Between them, within gnarled fingernails, the witches held an ornate, silver box. Which in turn held the secret to their own immortality and vanished, prolonged youth.

The faintly shining fragment of heart of the star who had ruled the kingdom long ago.

These witches had lain in uneasy slumber for years beyond count, but alas, no more.

For as the star, through no will of their own, bound themselves to another through fate. The terms lain upon the witches all those ages ago were broken.

Slowly, the witches opened their void, black eyes.

A rasping sound rang through the old keep of the Stronghold. The petrifying voice of the oldest, known only through legends told to frightened little children, even beyond the wall, as Lamia.

The High Witch of the Sisterhood of the Three spoke only three, chilling words.

“It is time.”

*

“But why?” Dan’s bemused voice asked for the fifth time.

“Because I love her” Phil said, the words feeling light and repetitive on his tongue.

“I looooove her,” Dan repeated, in a shrill high-pitched voice. “Yes she throws all my gifts and my words right back into my face but that’s fine because I looooooooove her.” Dan continued in the same, annoying tone.

“Stop it.” Phil said, pulling away slightly from Dan with a hurt expression on his face.

“Personally, I don’t care what you do, it doesn’t bother me sunshine.” Dan said, a cocky tone entering his voice and his features turning up into a slight smirk at the pet name. “I’m just curious as to why you want to marry her.”

“Because it’s true love!” Phil retorted, slightly surprised at the strength in his own voice.

“We even finish each other sandwiches!” Dan imitated in a high, girlish voice. “I don’t recall any recent relationship like that ending well.” Dan remarked flippantly, brushing aside his slightly lopsided fringe.

“Was that a Frozen reference?” Phil asked tentatively.

“Finally, some decent conversation.”

“You know Frozen?!” Phil asked incredulously.

Dan blew the remainder of the offending pieces of fringe out of his eyes. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“I would’ve thought the whole being-up-in-the-sky thing would’ve been an issue.” Phil answered, raising an eyebrow.

“Nah. Actually makes for better reception surprisingly.” Dan said, wincing at the end as his foot landed at a particularly nasty angle. “Not that a lot of stars approve. Apparently Muse and Hans Zimmer aren’t proper for a star to listen to.”

“Matt Bellamy has the voice of a god. They’re probably worried about being outshone.” Phil said, breaking off into little giggles at the last word.

Dan simply stared at Phil for about two seconds before shaking his head and muttering under his breath, “I can’t believe of all people to be indebted to I have the absolute honour of it being you.”

Phil just continued laughing, clutching his sides and gesturing feebly towards Dan, “Outshone.” he spat out between giggles.

“Idiotic human.” Dan mumbled, making a point of turning his head away from Phil.

Phil’s laughter died down to quiet snorts as he attempted to regain some semblance of composure. “Okay.” Phil said. “I’m calm, I’m calm.”

“Thank god for that.” Dan muttered, the sounds of the midnight forest taking reign once more.

“How do stars shine?” Phil wondered after a while, his childlike musing shattering the silence between them.

“Well when hydrogen atoms combine-“ Dan started sarcastically.

“You’re living proof that that’s not the truth!” Phil protested hotly.

Dan paused, collecting his thoughts on how to explain this to the human in terms that he would understand. “Well…” he started, “I guess it’s always been instinctive so I’ve never really had to think about it but now….“ Dan trailed off, staring off through the dark undergrowth which tangled to either side of them as he attempted to formulate his scattered thoughts into semi-understandable words. "I guess I just remember being happy.” Dan recalled, nostalgia tinging his voice. “But not like euphoric or frenzied just sort of- I dunno calm I guess. Sort of content and at peace.”

Phil regarded Dan with a guarded gaze. For the first time since he had met him, the star had seemed lonely, quiet, sincere. Almost lost.

“And now?” Phil ventured.

He regretted his words as soon as they left his mouth. Phil could see the barriers going up behind Dan’s velvet eyes, turning then back into hard chips of muddy flintstone.

“I don’t know.” Dan snapped, frustration leaking through in his voice. “I’m not exactly happy right now am I?” Dan added, gesturing towards his broken leg.

Phil murmured a quiet apology as the two fell into a silent rhythm once more.

*

“A heart.” The witches hissed, the words rolling strangely off of their old, dry tongues. “A shining heart full of life, full of youth.”

“Immortality, sisters.” The oldest and most powerful of the three, Lamia, proclaimed. “We shall have youth and years and the whole world shall be ours to rule over.”

“But which of us shall go to seek it?” The youngest of the three asked, her yellow, worn teeth spread in a wide, predatory grin.

“We need directions.” ordered Lamia.

The dying screeches of a rat echoed throughout the hall and the animal’s entrails were spread out on a wide, oaken table dusted with cobwebs and studied single-mindedly by the three witches.

“He is only five hours from here!” the youngest, Hecate, cackled in delight. “We may easily find and take what is ours.”

“Do not be so hasty sister.” warned Lamia. “We need years, as to not arouse suspicion.”

The Three glared at one another, until their gazes came to rest on a single, silver box.

“We only have enough for one.” warned the second of the Three, Medea.

Lamia smiled, the frosty gesture not quite reaching her eyes. “Then I’ll make it count.”

And so Lamia opened the box, drew out a small, silver piece of flesh, placed it between her old, frail teeth and swallowed it.

The effect was mesmerising. The ages fell away from her as if they were nothing more than optical tricks. The short, brittle hair fell out into long, blonde waves, interwoven with a subtle silver. Her height increased, her filmy grey eyes became miraculously green and clear. High up, upon one ivory cheekbone, there lay a dark birthmark, curved in the shape of a crescent moon.

The witch began to laugh, a wondrously clear, temptatious laugh which had succeeded in luring many men to both her bed and their deaths.

“I forgot how good it feels to be young again.” the witch giggled, her infectious laughter starting to irritate her sisters.

“Hurry.” hissed Hecate. “It was only a morsel. It won’t last for longer than a fortnight.”

“Do not fret sisters.” Lamia smiled, her sly green eyes turning into slits. “I shall return soon with the ultimate prize. The shining heart of a fallen star.”

*

Dan tossed and turned on the frosty, unforgiving ground. He wasn’t quite sure how Phil expected him to get to sleep when the stars were rolled out over the deep blue canvas above him euphorically bright as they stared back at the earth. He rolled over onto his back and let out a long sigh, staring up at the infinite miles above him where the tiny little silver pinpricks looked down on him pityingly from on high.

“Fuck this.” Dan muttered, just about managing to heave himself up without too much pain.

“Whey’a goin” the sleepy mumble emitted from Phil as Dan began to hobble away.

“How do you expect me to sleep when the stars are shining?” Dan shot back, irritated at Phil’s complete and utter lack of thought as he continued to hobble to the edge of their small clearing. “Unfortunately since I can’t leave I’m just going for a walk, I’ll be back at around dawn, I think.” Dan said non-committally, shrugging his shoulders as he hobbled away.

Phil answered him with a tiny groan before rolling over and beginning to let out tiny little snores as he drifted back into sleep.

Dan set off, moving at an incredibly slow pace due to his injured leg. He really hoped that nothing would decide to attack or bother him at the ungodly hour, he couldn’t move fast enough to run or hide and his light kept eluding him, hovering just at the edge of his consciousness out of his reach.

Dan’s despair, anger and bitter humour kept up their constant war within him, I’m a completely defenceless star with a broken leg, tied by obligation to a lovestruck, human fool wandering through the forest in the middle of the night, absolutely no danger here.

Almost as if his words were carried by fate, an unearthly howl echoed through the woods. _Yep, I’m definitely gonna die. Might as well cross the wall while I’m at it._ Dan thought glumly.

As Dan followed the path deeper into the woods, he began to regret his decision to not just stick it out in the clearing. The woods were significantly colder without the presence of a comforting campfire. Not that Dan was particularly bothered by the low temperature, he found himself missing the strange comfort of a crackling fire, the light so unlike the starlight which he was used to yet somehow, still felt like home.

He was so lost in his own thoughts, that Dan didn’t notice himself drifting further and further away from the soft, barely visible glow of the firelight through the trees until nothing surrounded him but dark wood.

“Fuck.” Dan cursed softly. This wasn’t good.

He began to walk with a brisker pace, wincing on every second step as his leg jolted on impact. He wasn’t going to panic. He refused to panic. For a single heartbeat, Dan almost wished that that idiot Phil was with him. He quickly banished that absurd thought to the deepest, darkest recesses of his mind.

After wandering around aimlessly for an indefinable amount of time, pushing through forest branches and tripping over hidden tree roots and scattered leaves, Dan saw something.

A path. Twisting, winding and narrow it may have been, but nevertheless, it whispered treacherous promises of a way out.

Not able to think of a better plan, Dan decided to follow the trail. After all, if all else failed, their obligational bond would always draw Dan back to Phil, eventually.

The path was so narrow and overhung in some places that the bright pinpricks of light and the soft glow of a moon were thrown into perpetual shadow, their shapes blocked completely from Dan’s sight. It made Dan a little uneasy, but all thoughts were unease were banished when he rounded the last turn.

In front of Dan, surrounded by the tall, dark trees, stood a large, wooden house. The inside sung promises of a cheery fire with the light flickering in the windows and the smoke curling its way out of the stone chimney.

Slower now, taking hesitant steps, Dan walked up to the side of the house, spotting the sign The Shining Heart Inn swaying slightly above the wooden door in the tiny breeze that rustled the surrounding forest.

Coming to a rest in front of the door, Dan rested his clenched knuckles against the rough, wooden surface for a fraction of a second before rapping sharply three times on the splintered door.

It was opened almost immediately by a young woman with long blonde hair that tumbled to down to her slim waist. Her emerald eyes softened immediately as she took in Dan’s ripped, dirtied clothing and shivering state.

“What on earth happened to you dearie?” she asked, opening the door wider and gesturing Dan inside. “Do come in, do come in.”

Dan stepped inside, relishing the wave of heat that washed over him, temporarily closing his eyes and just enjoying the tide of comfort which swept in.

“Sit down, sit down.” the woman said, gesturing over to the long, empty wooden table and benches situated just in front of the fireplace. “You’ll be needing a hot bath and a warm bed.” she said over her shoulder as she bustled around the counter on the far side of the cavernous, brightly firelit room. She padded back over to Dan, her embroidered emerald dress swishing as she attempted to hold the huge mug she was carrying steady.

She set it down in front of Dan before hurrying up the stair which led to the upper floors of the inn shouting down some more comforting nonsense about a “shimmering bath” and a “shining bed fit for the stars themselves”. Dan couldn’t hold back the ironic snort which burst its way free of its own accord at that comment.

He took a glance at the warm beverage in front of him, the swirling liquid the exact same shade as his eyes. Cautiously, he took a sip. It was better than anything Dan had ever tasted, except, perhaps, starlight. It was rich and creamy and seemed to fill Dan with warmth from the inside out.

Sighing, Dan stared over at the fire, letting the crackling lullaby of the flames zone him out, make him content.

And if you looked closely, a faint shimmer could be seen shining around Dan, the bright silvery colour of the sheen like stardust embedded in his skin.

Meanwhile, upstairs in the vacant room. The woman placed a large, stone knife engraved with carvings of forgotten ages beneath the lavish bed. She then stood up, dusting her hands. Her whole face lighting up with long-forgotten greed as the slim birthmark high up on her cheekbone glowed in the shape of a crescent moon.

*

Phil was dreaming when he heard the singers.

The particular content of that dream isn’t really vital to our story. It was the same sappy dream that all fools tend to have once in awhile. A dream of him and Victoria, together, happy. Running after children and recounting their tales together, happy.

Phil was lulled out of the dream by a thin, curling wisp of melody, the type that barely brushes over the shell of your ear before it’s gone, vanished from your hearing. With no memory of it apart from how it affected you.

Phil is half-awoken by the first song, a quiet song which sang of the dutiful and dreadful role of the stars. Their punishment being to watch and never interfere.

The quiet melody, interwoven with numerous harmonies, succeeded in bringing tears to Phil’s half-awake eyes. The sheer sorrow and quiet acceptance of the singers spun the song into something new. A haunting tune that seemed to haunt Phil the moment it finished.

After lying there for a few minutes, not quite awake, nor quite asleep, Phil decided that the melody must’ve just been an echo of his dreaming mind. Settled on the matter, Phil allowed himself to drift back into blissful oblivion.

Quite the wrong thing to do, as it happened, for minutes later Phil was jolted awake by the sudden explosion of song that expanded and rushed throughout reality.

Their words were so powerful that they succeeded in scaring the living daylights out of Phil, he only very rarely caught any words, and when he did, they were usually “fate”, “destiny” or some other variant.

Wide-awake now, Phil began to swing his head in all directions, looking around wildly for the source of the great and terrible melody that seemed to be everywhere yet nowhere all at once.

As Phil raised his head to the sky, he at last understood.

It was the stars who were singing.

As mad and weird as it sounded, there seemed to be no other explanation, the sounds were echoing from the great and vast sky itself.

Mouth wide open, gaping in awe, Phil stared up at the dark, night space above him, trying to grasp at the fact that the stars were singing.

When the first whisper brushed Phil’s ear, he was certain that he’d imagined it.

 _Philip._ the whisper said.

Shaking his head, Phil tried to get rid of all the buzzing thoughts racing around inside his mind, if he could just think.

 _Philip._ the whisper said again, this time, more insistent.

Phil ignored it yet again, putting it down to a mere figment of his imagination driven crazy by the singing of the stars.

 _PHILIP._ the mental whisper had turned into a shout that almost knocked Phil over with the sheer thought power of it.

“Hello?” Phil called out, glancing cautiously around him to see whether he could pinpoint the location of the whisper.

 _Finally._ The whisperer said, sounding slightly pissed, Didn’t you hear me the first few times?

“Sorry.” Phil apologised automatically before he could stop himself. “I- I mean who are you, what do you want?”

 _What I want?_ the voice snorted, _I’m merely concerned for my brother’s safety, as we all are. As for who I am, look up._

Phil glanced up, expecting to see something of importance, instead he was merely greeted with the same view as before, which meant…, which meant…

“You’re a star.” Phil said.

The star made what sounded like a grudging noise of approval. _Perhaps you aren’t as dumb as my brother makes you out to be, young human._

“Your brother.” said Phil, anxiety clenching up his stomach. “Do you mean Dan?”

 _Yes, the one who was pushed out of the sky._ replied the star.

“Pushed!” exclaimed Phil, “By who?!”

 _When fate pushes, none can change the tide._ The star replied cryptically.

Phil let the subject drop, he wasn’t in the mood to discuss philosophy with a star. “You mentioned Dan.” he said, “Is he okay? Has he tripped over some tree root and needs me to come and get him?” Phil said, letting annoyance seep into his voice. He had, after all, been robbed of a good night’s sleep.

 _I’m afraid it’s much more serious than that._ the star answered, all hints of humour gone from his voice. _Dan is in serious danger, and he doesn’t even know about it._

“What serious danger?” Phil asked, concern sweeping over his voice.

_He’s being held captive by Lamia, one of the three High Witches of the Eastern Crags. Her and her kind would stop at nothing to get to the heart of a star. You have to get to him before she manages to kill him._

“And it has to be me who rescues him?” Phil groaned, bidding a silent farewell to all hopes of rest.

_Your fates are too intertwined for it to be anybody else._

_“Fine. Fine. Where is he?” Phil asked, extinguishing the fire and preparing to set off._

_Your bond will guide you to him. Hurry for you do not have much time. the star spouted out in a jumbled mess of thoughts._

Phil realised that the star was right, he could feel himself being tugged in a certain direction, away on the opposite side of the small clearing, where the undergrowth grew thick and wild.

“I’ll save him.” Phil promised. “I’ll save him for you but don’t you dare think for one second I’m doing it for the sake of that arrogant prick.”

 _Thank you, Philip._ the star said, humour tinging their voice. _Hurry now. Run. Run!_

And so Phil began to run, following the subtle tug on his soul under the guidance of the sweet lullaby that the stars sang. Some say the melody was composed by Fate herself. It was an ancient story. One of the oldest.

It was a story that spoke of the star-crossed love between a lovestruck fool and a fallen star.

*

Phil should’ve really come up with a plan.

Well at least, that’s what Dan shouted at him across roar of the burning inn as a terrifying, powerful High Witch descended on them with green swirling across her eyes and sparks jumping at the fingertips.

It’s not like Phil didn’t have a plan, as he had defended later on. He had merely been so absolutely focused on saving Dan that the plan perhaps needed a little refining.

The unrefined plan, as it happened, was Phil charging headfirst into the door of the inn, and shouting out Dan’s name in a frenzied scream.

“DAN!” Phil yelled hurriedly. “DAN WHERE ARE YOU?!” he yelled again, taking in the seemingly empty ground floor before spying a set of stair in the corner leading upstairs.

Phil sprinted towards the stairs without a single moment’s hesitation, “DAN!” he screamed again urgently, despite the burning pain in his chest and the stitch in his side. Phil decided that if he happened to survive this, he definitely needed to do more exercise.

He skipped over the last few stairs and slammed right into a warm body waiting at the top of the stairs.

“Ommph.” the air rushed out of Phil’s lungs on impact. “Sorry.” he gasped out of the terrible, British habit of unnecessary politeness.

That was, until he’d seen who he’d crashed into.

“Dan!” Phil shouted, unable to stop his eyes raking once over him from head to toe. Phil had to admit that he looked good, beautiful even. His skin seemed to glow softly, as if melded with silver, his hair lay in perfect, copper curls upon his head and his leg seemed better, healed even. To hell with Victoria and the promise, Phil was so stunned for a second, he almost considered kissing Dan right there and then.

Almost.

“What the fucking fuck?” Dan snapped, anger entering his voice and the subtle glow on his skin dimmed down to almost nothing. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I thought you couldn’t run away!” Phil retorted, “And for your information I am trying to save your sorry existence.”

Dan let out a bitter laugh just as a sweet voice sounded behind Phil, “I’m sorry do you require any assistance?” a lilting woman’s voice asked.

Phil spun around, his eyes landing on the slim, young woman dressed in green standing halfway up to wooden staircase, her crescent birthmark on her cheek highlighting her startling paleness.

“Dan, we need to move. Now!” Phil said, grabbing ahold of Dan’s arm and basically tripping down the wooden staircase, dragging a protesting Dan behind him.

“Why?” Dan complained angrily. “Are you really that opposed to us living in luxury for one night on this godforsaken journey.”

A hundred colourful insults sprung to Phil’s mind at that moment, but instead he opted for whirling around to face Dan long enough to say “She’s not an innkeeper for god’s sake! Her name is Lamia, she’s a High Witch of the Eastern Crags and she wants to cut out your heart apparently so maybe it is really in your best interest to move.” Phil finished off angrily, appreciating how Dan had gone as white as a sheet.

“Oh I don’t think so.” a voice spat out from behind him before Phil felt himself be thrown forward by some unseen force.

“Fuck.” Dan spat out beside him, tackling him to the ground as moments later, a fireball smashed into where’s Phil head used to be.

A laugh echoed from beyond the distant roar of the burning flames. “Run all you like Phil Lester, you can’t keep me from my prize.” the witch said, power sparking from the ends of her fingers.

“Couldn’t you have spent at least a little time coming up with a plan?” Dan shouted in annoyance as they both managed to scramble to their feet.

“Oh. So you’d rather be dead then?” Phil shouted back, getting extremely tired of Dan’s unrelenting sarcasm and rudeness.

“You got us into this mess! Are you going to at least get us out of it?” Dan shot back.

“Oh I’m sorry I didn’t come equipped with my anti-trouble OR my automatic-teleportation device.” Phil yelled, annoyance ruling his voice.

“Well I guess it’s my job to keep us both alive unfortunately.” Dan retorted, grabbing onto Phil, silver sparks beginning to jump across the star’s skin.

“Dan-” Phil started, suddenly alarmed at the intensity of the silver sheen in Dan’s usually warm, rich chocolate eyes (not that he’d spent a lot of time thinking about Dan’s eyes of course).

“Shut up, close your eyes and fuck you Lester.” Dan hissed, before clashing his mouth onto Phil’s.

Phil immediately whited out, quite literally. He had managed to close his eyes just in time to avoid the piercing white light that seemed to arch out of Dan’s shimmering skin. He heard the distant shriek of surprise of the witch before the light invaded his mind.

He couldn’t hear, couldn’t see, couldn’t think. He could just feel the taste of Dan’s lips on his, feel the light that seemed to be racing and dancing through his body, along his every nerve path, setting his senses and very blood alight. The light that was so horribly and perfectly tinged with Dan and god, Phil was very angry because Dan wasn’t supposed to be that good.

It was by no way a gentle kiss, it involved quite a lot of anger and biting on both sides, combined with clashing teeth and breathy, incomprehensible exclamations of names.

Phil felt a sudden lurch, a sudden sense of swooping vertigo set in as his whole world seemed to go into a spin, it felt like they were moving, things and shapes blurring around them although Phil couldn’t quite bring himself to care.

Dan finally broke away after what felt like forever, panting quite heavily and glaring at Phil like he was death itself.

Phil certainly felt that way, whatever light he had felt sweep his body had disappeared completely, leaving a horrible numbing and freezing emptiness in its wake.

As he slowly regained his senses, he became aware of two things. One, they seemed to have changed location completely. They were standing on top of a chilly, windswept moorland, looking down below to cheery burning lights of a small, tudor-looking town, lights still burning in the windows despite the late hour. And beyond the town, beyond the forest, in the far distance of the gap between two valleys, Phil could make out the faint, distant outline of a stone wall.

The second thing that Phi became aware of was that Dan seemed to be saying something to Phil.

“-think that it’ll only take us about two days to get there, we can stay tonight in the town and tomorrow the Faerie Market would probably be the best shot, even if I will probably have to babysit you the entire-Phil are you even listening?” Dan finished off in exasperation.

“Hmm?” Phil said in a half-acknowledgement, his mind and lips still buzzing from the shock of Dan’s-

“Oh god you’re useless.” Dan snapped, marching up to Phil and grabbing him by the hand before beginning to promptly drag him down towards the little pool of lights. “Look, I’m pretty sure we’re both about to faint from sheer adrenaline so I say we go and crash in the town and carry on to the wall in the morning. If all goes well we should in the Faerie Market next to the wall by tomorrow night and you can go and fetch Victoria in the morning.”

“Isn’t your leg broken?” Phil blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

Dan sighed sharply, glancing down, shaking his leg experimentally a few times before shrugging. “I think the starlight healed it.” he said, before picking up the pace once more.

“I have one question.”

Dan groaned, not-slowing their pace he grumbled, “What is it now.”

“How and why.”

“We’re extremely lucky that actually worked.” Dan said, seriousness seeping into his voice. “We travelled by starlight, one of the fastest ways to travel. I think that I also managed to strip the witch of most of her stolen youth, of course that just means she wants my heart even more now.”

“Why?” Phil asked curiously, “Why do all the witches seem to want your heart?”

Dan sighed, slowing right down so that he and Phil were now walking together side-by-side in perfect tandem. If either of them noticed their now interlocked fingers, neither mentioned it.

“They who possess a heart of a star will live forever.” Dan said quietly, as if imparting some great, universal secret onto Phil.

“Forever?” Phil exclaimed, shocked.

“Shh!” Dan hissed, looking behind him as if to make sure there was no one following them. “Yes. Forever. Stars are immortal after all you idiot.”

“How old are you?” Phil asked quietly.

“Only about a couple million years, give or take. I’m actually very young compared to the average ages of my constellation.” Dan said nonchalantly.

“A million.” Phil hissed in surprise, “You’re older than the entirety of the human race”

Dan shrugged, “Still pretty young compared to most stars.”

Phil shook his head in an almost disbelief. “What was your constellation?” he asked curiously, not noticing the past-tense until it was too late.

Dan seemed unaffected by it, merely shrugging. “We were officially the Llama but I’m afraid that we looked more like a wonky bear, we ended up calling each other Bear because of it.”

“Bear.” Phil said, trying it out for size. “Cute nickname.”

Dan swatted at Phil’s arm with his other hand that wasn’t tightly interlocked with Phil’s. “Don’t you dare.”

“Whatever you say, Bear.” Phil teased.

“I’m tired and I’m not in the mood for your shit.” Dan complained, leaning his head on Phil’s shoulder for support.

Phil shrugged, “Fine by me, since I’m not in the mood for yours either.”

“Oi.” Dan said, swatting Phil arm once more before the pair settled into silence for the rest of the walk.

It was a good hour before they reached the small town and another hour before they found a caring person who was willing to take them in. That woman just-so-happened to be the town mayor. A warm, open woman with skin the colour of delicately ground coffee beans and quite possibly the best baking skills. (Even if neither of them mentioned her pointed ears which stuck out from her midnight hair streaked with snow.)

Both of them collapsed into the generously offered guest room. The room only had one, humongous four-poster double bed but somehow, neither of them could quite bring themselves to care.

It was when both of them were lying there, thoroughly exhausted by the events of the last twenty-four hours and both of them dancing with lowered inhibitions along the edge of sleep that Phil finally asked the question that had been nagging at the back of his mind.

“Dan.” Phil said hesitantly, “Why did you kiss me?”

“I wasn’t going to let you be vaporised by starlight now was I?” Dan replied.

“Hang on, vaporised?” Phil said indignantly.

Phil saw Dan shrug in the faint moonlight, “I told you.” he said, “Starlight is a dangerous thing. You would’ve died if we hadn’t been lip-locked.”

“What about the witch then?” Phil asked, “Is she vaporised or-”

“No.” Dan replied without hesitation, “She’s consumed so many hearts that I couldn’t do much else apart from take away her youth and really, really piss her off.”

“Great so once again we have a crazy, powerful homicidal witch on our tail and you’ve managed to piss her off.” Phil said, sarcasm tinging his words.

“She was pissed off and trying to murder us. Anyway I haven’t exactly changed much.” Dan shot back.

“Can she cross the wall?” Phil asked, concern for his town and Victoria entering his voice.

“Nah.” Dan said, dismissing the motion. “Again, she’s consumed so many hearts of stars that the moment she crosses the wall she’ll just explode into a measly handful of stardust.”

“Wait so stars can’t cross the wall?” Phil exclaimed, turning over to face Dan properly.

Dan, once again, shrugged, “No, in your world we just turn into a metallic, lump of rock.”

“What do you mean in my world.” Phil exclaimed indignantly.

“And here I was thinking that perhaps you weren’t that big of an idiot after all.” Dan muttered, shuffling over to lie on his back, one arm propped behind his head. “The wall isn’t just a wall. It’s a division, a split, a gateway. It connects two worlds, two universes that, by the basic laws created before time was even an idea, shouldn’t even be able to touch.”

Phil surreptitiously pinched himself, not quite sure whether to be awed or annoyed that this wasn’t in fact a dream.

“Now do you have anymore questions?” Dan’s normal, whining voice broke through Phil’s reverie, “Or can I actually get a single wink of sleep.”

“Just one.” Phil replied, remembering the question that had been nagging him the entire trek down from the high moor. “I thought stars could only shine if they were they were happy, but surely you weren’t happy, so why did the kiss work?” Phil finished off, trepidation lacing the edges of his voice.

There was a long pause. So long in fact that Phil was certain that Dan had gone to sleep, but after about two minutes, Dan’s exhausted voice broke the quiet stillness of the room once more.

“Well I theorised that starlight is triggered by strong emotions so I used the kiss to generate a powerful, pure emotion strong enough between the two of us to power the starlight.” Dan replied carefully, obviously withholding some vital piece of information.

Which emotion do you think was generated? Why are you lying to me? Phil wanted to ask, but his throat seized up. Somehow, the prospect of asking either question seemed terrifying.

No more words broke the fragilely constructed silence between them, however when they woke up the next morning, they were curled into each other’s arms, hands gripping tightly onto each other’s bodies.

Neither of them could quite bring themselves to care.

*

“Phil, wait!” Dan shouted, quickly running after Phil who had sprinted ahead in the faint light of the setting sun after catching a glimpse of the wall that lay on the other side of the field.

“Come on!” Phil said, running back, grabbing Dan’s hand, interlocking their fingers and started to pull him in the direction of the wall. “We’re almost there!”

“Whoa Phil slow down!” Dan said, pulling his hand (reluctantly, even if he would never admit it) out of Phil’s grasp. “We can’t cross until morning anyway, it’s not safe.”

Phil stopped, turning to face Dan, “Why not? I crossed at night the first time.”

Dan sighed, admitting defeat, “Fine you’ve got me, I just wanted to visit the Market before you cross over to get Victoria. Consider it a bachelor party of sorts.”

“A bachelor party?” Phil asked, his forehead creasing up in confusion.

Dan gave out a sharp sigh of exasperation, “Come on!” he pleaded, “One last night of freedom before you tie yourself to that bitch forever.” Dan said, dragging out the last word to add as much emphasis as possible.

“Hey!” Phil said, punching Dan lightly in the arm. “Don’t you say that about my future wife!” Phil said, his voice tinged with humour. Dan ignored the sudden, unpleasant lurch in his stomach.

“Come on Lester!” Dan cried out, “ I’ve been forced to watch these little fuckers cook for a few millennia without ever getting a chance to taste their food. Faerie cuisine looks absolutely divine.” Dan said, interlocking their fingers once more and dragging Phil in the direction of the market, despite his feeble protests.

A Faerie Market, if you have never attended one, is a strange thing. It is a labyrinth of stalls, bargains and half-whispered promises that twists and turns, sometimes refusing to let a person run free without going at least a little bit mad.

Dan and Phil entered the market camped in the field beside the wall hand in hand. Neither of them quite mentioned it, the same silent agreement passing between them as when Dan’s skin had started to shimmer faintly again.

Dan, relying on his non-mortal senses to guide them, was able to evade the usual trickeries of the market to drag them both to the food stalls.

“Okay Phil, knock yourself out.” Dan said, releasing hold of his hand and guiding him over to a cart filled with strawberries the size of apples, to begin bargaining.

“Wait!” Phil said, nervousness now beginning to set in without Dan’s comforting warmth beside him. “What do I bargain with?”

“Whatever you like!” Dan shouted over his shoulder, before starting to talk to the minuscule, long-nosed shop owner.

As it turned out, currency in the Faerie Market was nothing at all like it is in our world. Phil passed the evening bargaining the strangest offers including his ability to hiccup, the memory of the worst book he’d ever read (he was quite glad for the chance to erase E.L. James’s writing from his mind) and all his memories from before he was two were only some of the strange bargains he’d made that evening.

Finally, he came to a stall lined with hundreds of thin, elegant glass bottles which each held a good measure of a golden, fizzy liquid which seemed to leap within the beautifully structured glass.

“What’s in these?” Phil asked the shop owner politely, a rather short man with a splendid red beard which drooped all the way down to his waist.

“Only the finest wine this side of the wall!” the man exclaimed, “Guaranteed to make you feel all warm and fuzzy within seconds.”

Phil looked back at the bottles, quickly making up his mind, “I’ll take two then please.” Phil said. It was high time he found Dan anyway, they would have a long day ahead of them tomorrow.

“Let’s see, let’s see.” the shop owner said, rubbing his palms together, “In exchange for all your falsely guided love I will give you two bottles of this most fine, matured wine.”

Phil frowned, the offer seemed slightly strange although he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. “Done.” he agreed.

The man handed Phil two, rather large bottles of the wine. “Nice doing business with you!”

“Likewise.” Phil replied, grabbing the two then setting off to find Dan.

As he made his way, weaving in and out of stalls, Phil couldn’t help opening one of the twisted bottles and taking a generous sip of the sparkling liquid.

The wine was nothing like Phil had ever tasted, the only thing Phil had to compare it to was the heady sensation that had filled him when he and Dan had travelled by starlight. He could feel the liquid popping softly as it slid down his throat, filling Phil with a slightly warm and gilded glow.

Phil took another sip, relishing in the feeling, before his eyes landed on a mop of curly brown hair standing off by one of the stalls, guzzling what looked like yet again another giant strawberry.

Phil made his way over to Dan, feeling all the while like he was floating in a dream. A laugh bubbled in his throat at the analogy, although he couldn’t quite figure out why.

“Hey you.” Phil said, nudging Dan softly as he came up to stand beside him. “I bought you this.”

Dan turned to Phil, taking the elegant bottle from his grasp, “I’m trusting that this isn’t poison.” Dan said, examining the contents of the bottle warily.

Phil giggled again, taking a gulp from his own bottle. “Nope. Try it, it’s glorious.”

Looking cautiously at Phil, Dan took a tentative sip of his own. “Not bad.” he conceded.

Suddenly, they both burst out laughing, Dan taking a deep swig of his own bottle before grabbing Phil’s hand and leading them out of the market to the wall just beyond.

Outside, it was dark, the stars hidden by dark cloud. Dan lead both of them over to the wall and, finding hold in loose stones, swinging himself up so that he stood on top of the veil between the worlds.

Dan’s gasp of delight sent a warm, pleasant jolt throughout Phil’s entire being. “Come see.” Dan exclaimed, plopping down to sit cross-legged on top of the wall and staring up into the seemingly, empty sky with a sheer look of delight dancing across his features.

Phil passed Dan up his bottle before grabbing onto the same hand and foot holds as Dan had used, and dragged himself up.

The view from the top of the wall was unlike anything he’d ever seen.

It was like standing on a cliff, the moment before a storm hit, when you can see the swirling magnificence of the damaging cloud, but it’s not yet near enough to harm you.

Stretching away, far, far above their heads, Phil could see galaxy upon galaxy, nebula upon nebula, and universe upon universe, splattering the void with their vibrant colour and life. Reds upon greens, upon blues, upon purples, every colour possible and even some that seemed impossible graced the sky above the two of them.

Phil can’t quite remember what happened next.

All he can really gather doing is glancing over at Dan, quickly becoming transfixed by the stars reflected on his eyes and the way the light of a million universes accented the beautiful curve of his lips.

Suddenly, Phil was drowning and Dan was air.

The kiss was nothing like their previous one. Phil initiated it, for a start. Dan’s pleasant gasp of surprise coupled by the sudden intensity of the shimmer dancing across Dan’s tanned skin and onto Phil’s pale one drove Phil to keep going, to take Dan’s lower lip in between his teeth, rolling it gently and taking Dan’s half-gasp, half moan as an opportunity to force his tongue into his mouth.

At the first feel of their tongues colliding, both of them shuddered, grasping onto each other as if they were the air they needed to breathe.

Their lips moved in a perfect symphony that had been replayed on repeat since the dawn of time, their hearts racing in both their chests, the silver and red blood flowing through their veins rushing to their cheeks, their lips and somewhere a little further south.

It was a feeling Dan had never experienced before, the strange heat pooling in his stomach, a fire that was fuelled by Phil’s lips, Phil’s hands, Phil’s everything.

He whimpered as he was driven backwards by the intensity of the kiss, his back flat against the rough surface of the stone wall and Phil hovering over him, his lips coaxing out a beautiful lullaby from Dan’s own.

Quite suddenly, Phil ground into what seemed to be the centre of the heat and Dan jolted with the sudden explosion that seemed to radiate over his body. It was unlike anything he’d ever felt, liquid fire was running through his veins as Phil continued the motions, breathy little moans passing between both of their lips.

Clothes were discarded, skin exposed to the chilly night air, warmed by a soft pair of lips passing over Dan’s jawline, his neck, his bare chest, all the way down to-

Dan cried, tensed and shivered as he felt the delicious warmth close around the head of his exposed cock. He squeezed his eyes shut, throwing his head from side to side as he tried to wrap his head around the sheer intensity of the pleasure he was feeling

If Phil’s mouth was heaven on his lips, then it was divine on his dick. Again and again, Phil sucked, slurping slightly as he pulled off again and again and licking Dan’s slit before moving again, further and further each time.

“Oh dear god Phil.” Dan cried out, “I swear if you don’t get in me then I will vaporise you. ”

Phil popped off with an audible pop, Dan shivering as the cold air surrounded his cock. “Are you sure?” Phil asked hesitantly, Dan wasn’t quite sure how he managed to keep his voice so level. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Faerie wine.” Dan gasped out, “It was fucking Faerie Wine wasn’t it-” Dan said, his sentence dragging off into a whine as Phil nudged his nose along his exposed neck.

“Yes.” Phil said, pausing the conversation to gently suck on the paler skin of Dan’s jawline. “Why?”

Dan shook his head, gasping as he felt Phil’s lips on his jaw. “Those fuckers.” Dan panted, out of air. “I should’ve known. Faerie Wine acts as a powerful intoxicant and aphrodisia- ah.” Dan said his sentence cut short by Phil curiously thumbing one nipple. “Oh god. Don’t stop you idiot.”

“You were saying?” Phil said, bending down to swipe his tongue across Dan’s left nipple.

“You motherf-” Dan keened, bucking up once more into Phil. “Investment.” he panted out, barely able to form coherent words anymore. “Everyone ended up having sex. So when- god. When needed. It’s used as lube.”

Phil stopped, pulling away and chuckling slightly at Dan’s whine of loss. He reached over Dan’s body to grab a half-empty bottle of wine. “Are you sure this’ll work?” Phil asked, drizzling a generous amount of wine over his fingers and surprised to feel the wine change consistency.

“I didn’t spend millennia up in the sky watching people for nothing.”

“Kinky, voyeuristic Daniel.” Phil muttered, shoving a finger into Dan without warning.

Dan’s eyes bulged, his forehead creasing and his muscles quickly clenching around Phil’s finger, he let out a soft hiss, somewhere in between pain and pleasure.

“Relax.” Phil murmured into Dan’s ear, his teeth softly grazing the earlobe.

Dan relaxed, feeling his muscles unclench as he breathed out softly. “Okay.” he said, “Another.”

Dan felt a second finger probing at his entrance, softly pushing in and out and ripping a moan from Dan’s lips.

“Fuck it just get inside me.” Dan gasped, crying out instead as Phil added another, fingers curling and working their magic inside of Dan.

Suddenly, the fingers were gone. Dan heard the sounds of Faerie wine being drizzled before he felt Phil’s cock pressing against him.

They both let out gasps in unison as Phil slid inside. Dan couldn’t help himself from clenching slightly as Phil bottomed out.

“Relax.” Phil whispered again, kissing Dan’s ear and waiting for his signal.

Dan let out a breath, “Okay.” he said, “Move.”

Phil pulled out, almost all the way before slamming back into Dan, causing Dan to let out a slightly strangled moan.

They repeated the process again, and again and again until Dan was pushing back on Phil, meeting him halfway with each slap of their hips. Again and again and again until suddenly-

“Fuck.” Dan whispered, as Phil hit something inside of him which just set a lightening bolt of pleasure coursing through his body.

Phil angled his thrusts, hitting that spot again and again and again, Dan bouncing up each time, completely lost in the pleasure.

“Phil.” Dan gasped, feeling a tightening build in his abdomen. “Fuck Phil I’m gonna-”

Phil reached down, brushing his hand once against Dan’s cock was all it took as Dan cried out, arching his back as his rode out the intense feeling coursing through his body. He released, the starlight that had shimmered just below the surface of his skin releasing itself into the night air with a ferocious boom. Dan clenched tightly around Phil, causing Phil to let out a loud, guttural moan, as he came undone, coming buried deep inside Dan.

Phil pulled out carefully, wincing slightly as the slight discomfort on Dan’s face. “Sorry.” he said, gracing him with a quick peck on the lips.

“Less talking, more sleeping.” Dan groaned, pulling Phil to his chest and allowing him to share his unnatural body heat, keeping them both sheltered from the cold.

Phil let out a small yawn. “Okay.” he agreed, closing his eyes and burying his face into Dan’s chest. “I’m totally okay with that.”

Dan’s stroked Phil’s hair absentmindedly, glancing once more up at the rip between the worlds before he succumbed to a content and peaceful sleep.

As the fool and the star slumbered on top of the border between worlds. An old hag exited the market, watching them for a while before turning away to sit her vigil beside the gap in the wall, the moonlight catching her old, emerald eyes and the crescent moon high up on her right cheek.

*

Dan and Phil awoke the next morning with frozen skin and hearts on fire.

They collected their clothes in silence, only pausing for the slightest touch or the faintest kiss. They were careful to slide down to the Faerie side of the wall, facing the market which now looked dead, deserted almost.

Still in silence, the star and the fool walked hand in hand along the wall until, 20 metres from the gap, the fool tugged on the star’s hand.

“I’ve decided-” Phil started, pausing slightly to collect his thoughts, “To tell Victoria that I am unable to marry her.”

Dan simply stared at Phil for a long second before breaking out into a laugh, a giggle warming his throat. “You idiot.” he exclaimed, punching Phil in the arm. “It took you long enough to figure it out.”

Phil started to laugh with Dan, pressing their lips together in a chaste kiss that made both of them go weak at the knees.

“Last night, you know the price I paid for that Faerie Wine?” Phil asked, after they’d broken apart.

“What?” Dan inquired curiously.

“All my falsely guided love.” Phil replied, “My love for Victoria was poisoned, unhealthy, she doesn’t love me and she probably never will but you.” Phil said pressing his lips to Dan once more. “I love you Dan.”

Dan’s skin began to shimmer and glow, looking for all the world like he was softly illuminated from inside out. “You idiot.” Dan choked out, his voice heavy with emotion as he leaned forward to connect their lips once more, shimmers and sparks running, leaping and dancing their way between the two of them.

Its funny how something so perfect can be shattered so suddenly.

“Sorry to interrupt your little moment boys.” a croaky voice spoke from the gap in the wall. “But you have something I desire greatly.”

Dan broke away, gasping in horror as he looked over Phil’s shoulder at something behind him as Dan tugged on his hand and-

Phil was flung into the air, arching high over the wall and landing with a poof back in his own world.

“No.” he gasped out, the moment he could breathe again. “No. No. No! No! NO!” Phil screamed, running towards the gap in the wall to see.

Light. A clash of light battling beyond the gap. The witch stood, hissing and snarling curses encompassed in her emerald green light at Dan, who stood tall, determined, driven by some powerful, instinctual emotion as an aura of silver light exploded around him.

Phil tried to run, to pass over the gap but yelped as he hit a transparent, burning barrier which prevented him from going any further.

“Leave. Phil. Alone!” Dan shouted over the roar of the fight.

“Not until you give me what I came for!” the witch shrieked back, her green flames subsiding for a second.

“It’s not mine to give!” Dan insisted, his voice tinged with victory as his silver aura fell away.

“Whyever not?” the witch asked, her ancient brow wrinkling up in confusion and pure hatred.

“Because it already belongs to somebody else.” Dan confessed, his beautiful, silverish-brown eyes locking with Phil’s.

It was like time had slowed down, Phil’s heart seemed like a fluttering bird that yearned to break free of his chest. Slowly, ever so slowly like the breaking dawn, Phil felt a smile settle onto his face, mirroring Dan’s own.

“No!” the shriek reverberated between the countless worlds as Lamia, High Witch of the Eastern Crags screamed in fury and despair. “No!” she screamed, whipping around to face Phil, her eyes blazing as she began the last, vengeful act of her life.

“Phil Lester!” she cried, the cry cracking across the rip between the worlds “I curse you!”

“No!” Phil heard Dan scream above the raging wind of revenge, but it was already too late.

The words were said.

“You will never again be able to set foot this side of the wall as long as you, or your loved one live.” Lamia shrieked, gesturing behind Dan, green sparks emitting from her fingertips.

“Stop!” Phil heard Dan sob. “Please stop!”

“I say these words as Lamia, High Witch of this world and with my last breath, Phil Lester, I banish you from Faerie!” the words echoed along the paths of the tears in the worlds.

Phil watched Dan scream, falling to his knees on the other side of the wall, the other side of the wall.

There was a violent blast, a nuclear explosion of emerald light. It surrounded Phil, ringing in his ears, his sense until-

There was nothing.

Lamia was gone.

Phil collapsed, reaching out one hand to Dan-

Only to be thrown back violently from the wall.

“No.” Phil murmured, the reality of the situation sinking in. “No!” he said aloud, more forcibly.

“Dan.” he murmured again, beheld with the sight of the star, his one, true love, his Heart’s Desire weep out tears of silver as knelt on the floor, just by the wall.

“Phil.” Dan’s croaky voice replied, their hands crashing clumsily into one another in the gap in the wall, the void between the worlds.

As the two sat there in silence, squeezing onto each other tightly as the horrific reality started to sink in.

Phil buried his knees which were tucked up to his chest, letting out an involuntary keen of lost and longing

Phil Lester was a dreamer. But this time, reality had won.

*

Wall is a tiny windswept settlement sheltered in the cleft of a valley between two moorlands. Taking its name from actual wall located a mere mile from the village itself. Long and crumbling, the people of Wall have many legends and tales about the fabled wall.

One of such legends, is the Fool.

He lives in a tiny cottage, right next to the small gap in the crumbling wall. He never goes into the village, choosing instead to sit on top of the wall in the daylight, gazing out to whatever lies on the other side. He warns away curious children, village idiots and lovestruck fools, telling them all the same story. Some crackpot tale about witches, Faerie Wine and fallen stars.

There is a debate on how long the fool has lived in that cottage, despite his youthful exterior, if you were to gaze into his soft, sky-blue eyes, you would see the pain and knowledge about the hatefulness of the world of someone far older.

Despite the tales of the Forester family, passed down for generations to young Victoria Forester from her namesake, her great, great grandmother Victoria Anne Forester. Many people still try to woo or approach the Fool. His is always the same response, a polite decline, with the claim his heart is not his to give.

Some believe the Fool incapable of love, however young Victoria Philippa Forester knows better. For once, in the clear moonlight, the Fool was not sat alone on the windswept, stone wall. Sat beside him was another man, softly surrounded by a slight silver shimmer.

The only mystery of the fool left, is his seemingly unending life.

The answer to such a question, is simple. For he who possesses the heart of a star shall live forever.

And Dan had given his to Phil, completely.


End file.
